SPENDING THE PENNIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19719, 19 August 1927, Page 14

SPENDING THE PENNIES.

Sj r> —if there is one body in Auckland that ought to applaud the old adage, "Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves," it should be the Tramways Committee of the Auckland City Council, but judging by printed propaganda in favour of the loan that reached mo a day or two before the poll, the pennies pass through its hands like peas poured from a sack. Ihis document is the special tramways number of the Municipal Record, for which the Tramwavs Department naturally must pay. It consists of 18 pages of highly-glazed paper at least half of the space being occupied bv half-tone blocks, which cost money. The photographs include groups of people which are entirely unnecessary and many views of workshops, etc., which convey nothing. The letterpress is an example of how not to make an appeal. Brevity is the secret of that sort of thing. W hat the cost of this edition will be I do not know, but it will obviously be heavy. Thus we have frills when there is no money to waste upon frills. Apart from the tramway loan why is the Municipal Record printed in such a fashion ? It is a prodigal waste of public money. I realise that a taste for publicity grows upon one and that members of the City Council and officials are- nothing loath to have their pictures printed, but what is the purpose of it all ? The whole thing is "swank" and "swank" is always nasty, particularly when it is done at the expense of the grocer and butcher, otherwise the water service and the footpaths. Poverty Point.